A relative of Mexican drug kingpin Vicente Carrillo Fuentes testified Thursday as a government witness in the federal trial of Arturo Gallegos Castrellon, an alleged Barrio Azteca leader accused of conspiring to kill three people with links to the U.S. Consulate in Juárez.

Fernando Carrillo, 33, a former Barrio Azteca member, said he grew up around drug-trafficking and that two of his uncles are involved in the drug trade.

"My uncles are nephews of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes," testified Carrillo, who used eyeglasses and a wore a shirt and tie and dress slacks with a large "G" belt buckle. Carrillo testified that he wanted to work for the Juárez drug cartel, which is headed by his relative, Carrillo Fuentes, and told the court he became a member of the Barrio Azteca while he was incarcerated in the United States.

He testified that he knew "J.L." Ledezma, who was the cartel's top leader in Chihuahua state, and attended a meeting at a ranch outside Juárez with Ledezma, Ravelo, leader of the Barrio Azteca in Juárez, someone nicknamed "Rafa," and Jesus "Camello" Castillo Chavez, a leader of Barrio Azteca hit squads, who has also testified for the government in the trial.

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Carrillo identified the defendant in court, Gallegos, who has pleaded not guilty to various charges, including conspiring to kill Arthur Redelfs, an El Paso County jail detention officer, his wife, Lesley Enriquez Redelfs, who worked at the U.S. Consulate in Juárez, and Jorge Salcido Ceniceros, whose wife also worked at the consulate. Enriquez Redelfs was four months pregnant when Barrio Azteca hit men shot them to death in Juárez on March 13, 2010.

Carrillo testified that Ravelo became perturbed after Ledezma asked him at the ranch meeting to go easy on Carrillo, and to not send him out to commit "hits" (killings) right away because Carrillo had recently been released from a U.S. prison.

"Tablas (Ravelo) wanted my help to take out "J.L." (Ledezma) — I said no," Carrillo testified, explaining that the cartel would send someone to kill anyone who tried to eliminate Ledezma.

Ravelo, who is suspected of involvement in the 2010 slayings of the three people with links to the U.S. Consulate, is one of the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives. Ledezma, who was being sought by Mexican officials, has not been seen in the Chihuahua region in recent years.

Carrillo testified that one of the Barrio Azteca members told him that "Farmero," one of the nicknames for Gallegos, "is getting crazy. He's killing a lot of people."

Carrillo testified that he was deported to Mexico after serving his sentence, and reported to a Barrio Azteca representative in Juárez. He said he also worked for La Linea, the drug cartel's enforcement arm, which he described as organized crime. He said Barrio Azteca was merely a prison gang before the drug cartel wars broke out in Juárez.

The role of the Barrio Azteca in Juárez changed in 2007-2008 with the drug cartel wars, he said.

"The (Carrillo-Fuentes) cartel decided to give 'their work' to the Barrio Azteca, which was mostly killing," Carrillo testified. "Fresa" said 'we are at war right now, we are helping the Juárez drug cartel.'" "Fresa," a Barrio Azteca member, is the nickname of Alberto Nuñez Payan, who was indicted by U.S. officials on various charges.

At the time, Carrillo testified, the gang members were instructed to keep a low profile and conceal their tattoos to avoid being identified by rival gangs that worked for the Sinaloa drug cartel.

Carrillo testified that he delivered about 60 grams of cocaine per week to the Mexican side of the border for about 10 months, and began smuggling marijuana to the U.S. on the side of the border, which got him arrested. "I tried to (transport) marijuana to Memphis for myself," he testified.

Also on Thursday, the court heard from Gualberto Marquez, another Barrio Azteca member turned government witness, and from FBI Special Agent Samantha Mikeska, the FBI's lead gang investigator.

Marquez testified that his El Paso-based drug-trafficking cell was going strong before he got busted in 2009. He said that during one six-month period his organization was processing 350 to 500 kilograms of cocaine a month, and at one point had $11.8 million in proceeds from drug sales. "It took us two days to count the money," Marquez testified.

Mikeska testified about the Barrio Azteca leaders in the United States who acted as the leadership umbrella for the Barrio Azteca gang in the U.S. and Juárez. She identified a cell phone, which is evidence in the trial, that U.S. prison officials found inside a cell belonging to one of the gang leaders. The telephone was used to issue directives to other gang members.

Gallegos' defense lawyer, Randolph Ortega, told the court that none of the information provided by Marquez or Mikeska had a direct bearing on the defendant.

On Wednesday, U.S. officials testified about heroin that smuggled into a U.S. prison for a Barrio Azteca leader inside the binding of a book titled "The Whole Truth." The book was received into evidence as well.

During the trial, which is concluding its first week today (Friday), jurors saw photographs of beheaded and dismembered bodies, and heard graphic testimony about the brutal acts that Barrio Azteca members committed during the drug wars in Juárez.